I remained stunned, looking at the giant corpse slowly falling towards the surface along with the many other smaller demons.
I needed a moment, a moment to breathe. My mind was still on the edge; I had so many things left to process: the unknown power unleashed by my niece, the demon he summoned, and the danger it posed to the heavenly city.
Had that been unleashed anywhere else… The result would've been catastrophic.
I walked to the edge of the floating island, staring at the giant demon sinking below the layers of clouds beneath us, fearing that out of carelessness, my sister-in-law had failed to land a finishing blow.
No, she's a veteran; she wouldn't make such a rookie mistake.
After a few seconds the corpse gave no hint of possibly waking back up again.
Fuck, I need to retrieve that thing as quickly as possible; I can't allow anyone to lay hands on it.
Without skipping a beat, I called my son. My ears were still ringing from the large shockwave unleashed by the scarlet devil's frightening attack, and my hands were still trembling from the adrenaline still pumping in my veins.
There were so many things I wanted to say; adrenaline was still pumping through my veins, but I steeled my resolve and focused on the important matters first.
"Ilay, prepare yourself. Take your small squad and go retrieve the corpse of the demon. We must do so before any of the other families get to it first. We can't let our enemies get ahold of that power."
"Father… preparations… danger… threats…" My ears were still recovering from the shockwave, so I could listen properly to his response.
"Take as many soldiers as you need; inform every facility on the surface to prepare themselves. Tell them to use the Gates to teleport as many agents as needed to complete this task." I reiterated before ending the call.
"Take care of yourself; if things go south, make sure to prioritize your own safety."
And now… let's deal with the other incompetent bastard.
As soon as the corpse had sunk below the sea of clouds, I headed to my brother's house. I jumped down and leaped from the roof of one building to another as fast as I could. I didn't care if I damaged those buildings in the process; I had too many questions and was too full of anger to care.
Did I just almost die right there? Was that thing meant to turn me into a demon? What would've happened to me if that thing had succeeded? What about my kids? Why did his kid summon that thing? How?
When I landed in front of his building, I saw him lying in front of the entrance, where he placed his banner. He was almost on his knees, clearly out of breath and drenched in sweat, panting desperately to avoid suffocating to death.
As he saw me, he absorbed back the banner into his chest and attempted to get up only to fall back on his knees.
I would've felt sorry for him had my kids and I not almost died in that accident, so I grabbed him from the collar and lifted him off the ground to interrogate him.
"You better start talking. I'm not in the mood for empty chatter. What was that creepy energy? What was that thing your son summoned? Speak before I punch a hole through your fucking face!" I demanded of him as I slammed his body against the metal fence around his house, breaking it.
"Hey, be gentle; I just had—"
"I don't give a damn about it! Don't dodge the question! What the hell was that? Why did your son summon it, and how? " I asked while putting more pressure on his neck.
"I know nothing; this never happened before, so even I know nothing of this, Kiriam." He pleaded as he was slowly suffocating; when I saw his face turn red, I let him go to allow him to regain his breath. I didn't want to accidentally kill him in his weakened state.
You fucking liar! This is not the first time! Speak before I do the unthinkable!
Before he could even attempt to get back up, I grabbed him by the back of his neck using my left hand, lifted him up, and then landed a punch to his guts with my right hand to punish him for the lie he just told.
All the rage was slowly getting to my head; I felt restless. I was moments away from beating my brother to death; the punches never stopped, not when he pleaded, not when he started puking. To stop myself from potentially killing him, I slammed his body to the ground, away from me.
"Do you have any idea how many people died? How are you going to explain this incident to the other nobles?" I yelled at him as I was holding my own right arm. The urge to beat him still hadn't subsided.
They were already looking for excuses to side against us. Do you have any idea what you just did? Don't you remember what we went through? Do you really want to see all of us dead that badly?
"I have no fucking clue! What do you think of me? Do you really think of me as someone crazy enough to provoke those nobles?" He protested as he tried to get back up before falling back on all fours.
No, you're just a massive idiot. How many times did I tell you chasing that woman would've ruined us? We shouldn't have gotten involved with that family; we should've just let them all die. We were fine before we got tangled with them.
I unconsciously began walking in circles while thinking about what would happen next.
How long do you think you can even afford to live with everyone here as your enemy? Your wife could probably be just fine, but last time I checked, she too can starve to death if a battle prolongs for long enough.
I could already picture it: thousands upon thousands of assassins at every angle. I wouldn't be able to trust any new hires for decades to come; maybe they had already infiltrated and just needed the right command to strike. These people were all insane, after all; a small scuffle between kids turned into a mission to eradicate us all in less than a month of staying here.
"Brother, don't worry, things are going to be fine." He tried to reassure me.
Try saying that when you're not in a state where you can barely breathe; you'll sound a lot more convincing by then.
"What's going on over here?" The usual female voice intervened; she slipped past her husband without making a single sound, and in the blink of an eye, she had positioned herself in between me and my brother.
"Keep your filthy hands off my husband!" She spoke in her usual cold voice while glaring at me.
You…
She was emitting a chilling killing intent, something that felt like a sharp spear pressing against my throat. Without moving a finger, she managed to summon a strong enough gust of wind to push me away.
"I'm not in the mood to deal with you, Elena. If you also don't know anything about that fucking thing, then fuck off." I yelled at her while summoning my chains to threaten her.
To deal with that gigantic source of energy, it surely must've worn her out, even if just by a little bit…
My hands were still trembling; I couldn't tell if it was because of the adrenaline still rushing in my veins or the fear of potentially having to square off with Elena.
"So, which is it? Are you finally going to open your mouth, or do I have to carve an answer out of you?" I yelled a second time more loudly as I started making the chain spin at high speed.
"How about we talk inside and get some much-needed rest? I'm sure we're all tired from what just happened, so let's take it easy; there's no need to fight in the middle of the streets." My brother proposed as the servants lifted him off the ground.
Elena didn't even bother to answer; she took a step to the side and allowed me inside the house.
My hands were still trembling, and to hide it from the view of unwanted eyes, I kept my hands in front of me, feigning to be massaging my wrists.
"So, can anyone explain to me what happened here?" I asked.
The servants, in the meantime, offered me a chair to sit down on, but I was too nervous to sit down and talk rationally; the image of whatever that thing was was still imprinted in my head. Its eye alone was bigger than their entire mansion.
The room remained silent for a while; the servants had enough time to prepare some tea for all of us and set up a table with a bunch of home-baked snacks fresh out of the oven.
As soon as the snacks came in, Robert took an entire plate along with a cup of tea and brought it upstairs, where his son was sneakily peeking at us.
"So?" I asked her as soon as my brother accompanied my niece back to his room.
"So what?" she asked confusedly, raising one eyebrow as she leaned forward to reach the cup of tea.
"Is there an explanation for what just happened? Why—no, how did your son even do that? I asked her.
She remained silent for a minute, looking upstairs, where Robert and Lucy had headed, then she drank the tea as if it were an alcohol shot and threw the cup away, exhaling very loudly.
"I don't know where to start," she said with a defeated look, falling on the seat the servants had prepared beforehand.
I remained quiet to let her talk.
"Does it have to do with your family's power? That's the only thing that could explain such a powerful burst of demonic energy." Tired of waiting, I decided to ask her a few things.
There was no noticeable reaction on Elena's side; she simply kept sighing, keeping her mouth shut.
"If it's not that, then what is it?" I asked, but once again I was met with silence.
My patience had reached its limits; in a fit of rage, I stomped the ground below me, cracking it and making the whole mansion tremble.
"Brother, please calm—" My brother had rushed to my side, jumping down from the stairs.
"How am I supposed to calm down here? That thing could've easily taken the lives of me and my sons! How do you even expect me to calm down in this situation?" I immediately lashed out at my brother, who was only trying to be civil in such a tense moment.
I then found myself surrounded by dark walls; Elena had used her powers to bring me to an isolated space.
"Are you finally in the mood to talk?" I asked her as I took a hold of my weapon.
"Hey, I know you're angry, but please think again before you do something you might regret; it's Elena you're trying to fight, you would stand no chance, not even with a million lives."
"I have a few theories, nothing concrete; even after seeing that thing up close, I couldn't figure out how it worked or why it happened. All we can do is monitor him more strictly to try and figure out as much as we can so we can prevent it from happening again," Elena said in response.